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orchidlilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Colonisation
tinkeringcheck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
As for the characters, the concepts were fantastic and bursting with not-quite-realized potential. I adored every little bit of information we got about the talented and mysterious Mr. Mori, but I felt that much of Thaniel's character was left between the lines to the point of him becoming quite boring as things went on. (How this was managed despite having unique narration tics with his synesthesia, I've no idea). And while I found the drag-wearing, anti-suffragette physicist Grace quite fun and offbeat in the beginning - especially her banter with Matsumoto, the dandy friend who lets her raid his closet - she had an abrupt change of priorities and comprehensibility halfway through the book that left me disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing
But what soured what had still been an enjoyable read for me was when I figured out where the final act was going. I nearly threw my phone at the wall. I almost DNF'd with just chapters left. I only skimmed through to the end to see if
There's also an honestly uncomfortable amount of casual racism and xenophobia from the white characters' perspectives. It's clearly meant to be period-typical and reflect the society they grew up in because it disappears in the POV chapters set in Japan, but it still felt excessive. Japanese and Japanese-British characters (including Mori) are constantly referred to as small and delicate and juvenile, and they're described by these racialized features exponentially more often than the white characters, even late into the story. For example, Thaniel's grey eyes and other physical descriptors are mentioned offhandedly, meanwhile each time Mori is described physically - like his tanned skin or short height or small hands - it's always tacked on with some remark inexplicably tying it up with him being Japanese. (Matsumoto, being a tall man, is described as being 'English-raised' instead.) At some point I was just desperate for ANY descriptor for these characters that wasn't racialized and was left disappointed.
Overall, I wanted to fully love this book (and nearly did for awhile!) but the overall execution and the plot choices in the climax unfortunately killed a lot of my enjoyment. I did love the premise of a mysterious, talented-beyond-his-time clockwork maker in his wondrous workshop - and I felt the middle portion of the story was the strongest in part because it focused on unveiling Mori's world. But as the book went on and we were moved from his workshop into the strange 3rd act drama with less compelling characters, I wondered if what I loved about it was more about the possibilities I was imagining for myself than what was on the page. Katsu the adorable clockwork octopus, kind and lonely Mori, and dearly underused Matsumoto were the shining stars for me, though I'm not sure I'll be tuning into the next book to see how they fare.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Blood, Stalking, and Classism
Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, and Grief
Animal death: Personally, even though it's not really graphic andmaddithemoodi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.75
I felt uncomfortable with some of the (probably period-appropriate) racism and East-Asian tokenizing that went unchallenged by the narrative. It was written/referenced/implied constantly that Asian people are smaller than white people. It was so often that it felt like it bordered on fetishizing — Thaniel was constantly thinking about how small Mori (and other Asian characters) was compared to him.
The writing itself was fine, if not a little slow with slightly under-developed characters — though both elements picked up a lot in the last quarter or so. I might read another book from this author, but I’m really hesitant considering a lot of the troubling perspectives or politics that went unchallenged — it just made it frustrating to read.
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs
name_user's review against another edition
1.5
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Police brutality
cookiecat73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Classism
clarabooksit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death, Blood, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
paulinevdw's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Xenophobia